March 2019 WEB

12 MEREDITH and DISTRICT NEWS
The Age that Time Forgot
In an age where the fear of being without your mobile has an
actual term (nomophobia, by the way), the prospect of being
without television or the internet would strike fear into the
heart of most millennials.
Technology and social media scholar, Danah Boyd, has
explored the idea that we are increasingly participating in the
‘always on’ lifestyle. As the name suggests, as a society we
are becoming perpetually connected to the internet. We can
be reached by, and reach out to, anyone and anything at any
time.
While it certainly has its benefits (posting envy-inducing
holiday snaps and ordering pizza timed perfectly to suit your
commute home) the drawbacks have been explored
extensively in newspapers, questionable current affairs
programs and (ironically) on a never ending plethora of
websites.
Having recently moved house with my partner, I expected
some jarring moments. The prospect of not having internet
for almost a month was something that took time to come to
terms with but wasn’t the end of the world. That’s what
mobile 4G is for, right? But our new area has dodgy
reception. Oh well, there’s always television. Except when
someone of questionable moral standards decides to help
themselves to a crucial element of our antenna’s
functionality.
All of a sudden we were no longer ‘always on’. With a
sprinkling of melodrama, we were in the dark ages. I’d
grown up in the time before smart devices took over the
world like an infection so knew it was survivable. Even
cathartic. But television? That was new stomping ground for
me. The occasional blackout can be fun with the addition of
board games and the comforting flicker of candlelight but
this was a different story. We’d left all our games at our
childhood homes. There were no games. And no internet to
play mobile games. Things were bleak. The unpacking had
happened at lightning speed, decorating had begun in earnest
and talk had dwindled to cleaning rosters and arguments over
who got to park in the garage.
Thankfully, the television was fixed a week later and the
times spent sitting on the couch together, watching movies
from my rather unappealing DVD collection, were over. We
could now watch the news and reacquaint ourselves with the
scary, selfish and sour world we had been missing. In our ‘off’
bubble, we had missed out on the terror and sadness. Our world
consisted of making a new home, talking to family and friends
around our second-hand dining table and learning the best pizza
places, routes to the beach and walking trails of our new little
town.
While being ‘always on’ is toxic in itself, and being completely
unconnected leaves you trailing behind in Progress’ dusty wake,
there is no reason that we can’t have that cake and eat it too.
Maybe technological moderation might be easier than junk food
moderation? Here’s hoping.
Gemma